But there she is again – Palin brightens up the Republican conference, McCain glows in approval from his acceptance speech and his choice of a running mate.

The most damning ‘exposes’ have come from other women, ranging from those who once visited Alaska to those who have known her all their lives.   Let us hope that some sanity takes over and that feminists support a woman, rather than denigrate her!   After all isn’t that what it is about – the power of the 50+ percent female vote to bring more women into significant roles in the public arena?

On the whole, it seems that Sarah Palin is not at all self-effacing.  Duh, what Vice Presidential candidate would be?   And her principles may come second to her need for popularity.  Well, duh again.  Popularity and success in politics surely go together, don’t they?

Meanwhile in Australia a woman has just become the president that we don’t have.  Quentin Bryce has just become the Governor General of Australia, chosen by the elected government of the day.

And the hope is that she will be the last before Australia becomes a republic, and it’s hoped that she will contribute to that coming about.

Sad that there aren’t more women in public places, isn’t it?

If you get the wrong wholesaler who supplies the same old, same old, it will be a very different story.

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We are sterling silver jewelry manufacturers in Ubud, Bali. We don’t make rubbish, we are well established and most importantly we don’t rip anyone off, especially our customers. We make gorgeous spirited handmade jewelry that never fails to delight!

We use carved bone to make goddess and moon faces , totem spirits, cat beads and combine them in our own designs with gemstones, abalone shell, coral, and pearls.

They are great sellers. The prices they bring on eBay, Amazon, Google Base etc would amaze you but first, take a look at our website for our wholesale prices.

Remember we can do even better if you are buying in volume! Just register for our larger volume prices.

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And welcome to a prosperous future!

We look forward to working together with you!!!! Selamat berbahagia! Be Happy!

I try to imagine where they might have stayed taking into acount that it was a sojourn of a year or more.

Seminyak? Possible but I doubt it. After all this was many years ago in the early 90′s and therefore long before Seminyak became the Yak and fashionable.

Kuta, nah! No time for writing if you lived in Kuta at that stage. It would have been all partying and surfing.

Sanur – very staid but possible. Safe and predictable Sanur. No big waves here and the parties were mostly very respectable, they say. Leaving out the art fraternity here.

My favourite place to put them is the ridge at Sayan. That was the scene in those days for the cognescenti. Writers, architects, top level artists and musicians and the inherited wealthy all aspired to houses there.

But once they had them it was terribly dull to live in them all year round so they could be persuaded to lease them profitably on a yearly basis.

That is where I can picture the possible next US president beginning work on his ambitious journey.

The thing I wonder though is how much Indonesian he remembered from his time as a child in Jakarta, near Jalan Jaksa in Menteng.

Mind you, that was a very different language, colloquial Jakarta slang, to the lazy and more casual Indonesian of the mostly farm folk of Sayan.

We hope he will come back some day but this time he would be far more likely to be sequestered at Nusa Dua. Boring, boring, boring!!!

If you do a search on the net the search engines will come up with thousands of them, not surprising for a large city perhaps, think New York, London, Sydney.

But Bali is a very small island and most of the blogs are in English or other European languages. Now we are looking mostly at the western population of Bali and of course its visitors.

Really interesting that Bali inspires so much writing but hardly surprising. It is such an energetically charged environment and there are many westerners searching to make a living there so that their stay can be extended.

Baliblog is the most obvious of the commercial blogs and is quite impressive in its scope. It cleverly includes links to everything Balinese and must make an impressive income for its writer.

Something with a bit more depth would be a welcome addition but frankly speaking, most bloggers seem to be only in it for the publicity and the ensuing Adsense bonanza.

For others such as myself, having a business that needs to make sales, yet living so far from major world markets and lacking the marketing budget to use normal mainstream channels, blogging is an affordable alternative.

We hope we bring a little more than that but please let us know what you think.

The dress wasn’t so convincing but then I don’t think they had the time (or perhaps the inclination) to go that far.

But with Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger I think it was quite another thing.

You see I know their beautician/make up artist in Ubud from that time in 1990 or so when they also fronted up to the offerings and the ceremonial sword and egg (as one does at weddings in Bali).

When I first had my hair done by Ibu Ayu and we chatted as she combed and snipped, she pointed proudly to the framed picture on the wall.

There was Jerry, respendent in heavy Balinese makeup, a false exaggerated black hairline, and a fan of golden gilt flowers framing her hair. She wore on the top of her body the traditional wound around strips of handwoven cloth, a sort of prada (cloth stamped with gold patterns.

A real Balinese look, for sure, but Jerry’s wide grin unmistakeable under it all. Mick wasn’t in the photo but Ayu assured me that she had made him up too.

I could imagine it. The men are alwsys fully made up with foundation, powder, lipstick and eyeliner. And at that time, Mick’s wrinkly face wouldn’t have channeled any runny lipstick.

So I was pretty surprised to also read recently that Jerry had put her wedding dress up for sale and didn’t feel bad about it.

Doesn’t sound like the dress I saw her wearing at all. That would just wind up into a small ball and a neatly folded sarong on the side.

This one was white lace with a scalloped sweetheart neckline.

Or maybe she just wore a few dresses on the same day.

Now as far as I know neither Madge or Britney have yet made it to Bali for their weddings but sooner or later many folks do.

So who knows? It could still happen.

And like all the other thousands of bridal couples coming to Bali for weddings they will be welcome as well.

Now I wonder if they will be in the market for some unique Balinese wedding jewelry as well. Maybe I had better get some wedding designs happening just in case!

I can call it the Bali Wedding Name Dropper range, can’t I?

How this comes about no one is too sure. It could be because of inbreeding on a small island or there could be some other explanation.

They come in the usual cat colours, ginger, black, tabby and white patched.
My favourite is a tabby. She actually followed me when I moved house and although I had arranged for her to stay at my old place, in about four weeks after I moved, she suddenly turned up looking rather thinner than usual at my new house about 5 kilometers away.

Naturally I gave her a big welcome when she arrived!

There are lots of small field mice in the ricefields in Bali and also lots of small lizards that unwisely sun themselves in gardens.

So with the addition of some dried cat food or table scraps, the cats do very well usually.

And they are much faster movers than the dogs in Bali so have nothing to fear from them. They always keep a high refuge place in sight anyway in case of needing to get away.

As with most cats they usually live a very quiet contented life, socialising with other familiar cats and selected humans.

We celebrate the cats of Bali in our carved bone sterling silver cat jewelry.

You can see some of it in our online Ebay store online Ebay store or in our wholesale online store

Take a look now. We accept Paypal and post items off to you immediately. Buying direct from Bali is easy.

You can find it here at Jewelry with Soul

We ship direct to you from our silver workshop in Ubud, Bali.

If we send by EMS it only takes about a week to arrive.

And we wrap it for you in a piece of our handmade pineapple paper, just for the finishing touch.

With no middle men your payment goes straight to supporting our wonderful artisans, village men and women who do their very best with each piece.

Take a look now.
Jewelry with Soul

With Kertas Gingsir, our production business in Bali, you know that when you buy our silver jewelry and other products, you contribute in a real way to supporting a village family in Bali.

Kertas Gingsir operates under the principles of Fair Trade, and follows guidelines as set out by IFAT.

We pay our artisans better than fair price per piece of jewelry or other handmade product, a price that is set by the artisan themselves. There are no children employed, and female silversmiths and artisans are highly valued, and paid the same salaries or price per piece as male silversmiths.

Kertas Gingsir artisans are given the freedom to work out of their own homes if they choose to do so, and according to their own schedule.

This ensures that all artisans can meet family and spiritual needs within their homes and community, a very important part of Balinese culture.

Staff in our workshop and office are also provided with similar conditions but still manage to provide on time production, thorough quality control and timely shipping.

We run our business in such a way that our artisans get valuable experience in being accountable for and running their own small business. Some of our staff, after our extensive training, have gone on to set up their own manufacturing business.

We provide safe and healthy working conditions for all our staff and our artisans. We provide constant work orders, advance deposits and prompt final payments to artisans who work in their own homes as well as providing generous salaries to our silver workshop staff, other artisans and staff. Sales staff in all of our shops are given sales incentives on top of a more than fair salary.

Kertas Gingsir is proud to support over 90 valued artisans, office, quality control and sales and support staff. When you buy Jewelry with Soul or our handmade recycled or pineapple paper products, you can be sure you have made a difference.

This is what we say on our website and this is our operating principle and in practice that is what we do.

Do we need to operate within an official Fair Trade group?

I am not sure.